Spotlight on Albertan Innovation

Innovation Tech

Patrick Lor

Managing Partner, Calgary Office

Panache Ventures

Karina Guy

Partner, Healthcare and Life Sciences

FREDsense Technologies

Published on May 28, 2018

Watch and Read the Experts’ Full Interviews:

Alberta’s True Character Shines Through During Oil Downturns Patrick Lor Managing Partner, Calgary Office Panache Ventures
Alberta’s Health Tech Industry: A Product of Data, Digital Disruption and Collaboration Karina Guy Partner, Healthcare and Life Sciences KPMG in Canada
Digital Tech: A key component of Alberta’s diversified future Aaryn Flynn Co-Founder Edmonton.AI
Bioengineering: Alberta’s hidden talent pool David Lloyd Co-Founder and CEO FREDsense Technologies

The sudden and protracted drop in oil and gas prices forced Alberta and its economic stakeholders to prioritize the diversification of the province’s economy. Although energy will remain a central component of its economy, emerging sectors such as health tech, digital tech and biotech – as well as others – are attracting attention, investment, talent and occupying a greater role in the vision for Alberta’s diversified economy.

This Spotlight explores Alberta’s ongoing diversification efforts – and the opportunities they represent – from the perspectives of the talented individuals investing their time, expertise and money into the emerging sectors that will play key roles in Alberta’s innovative future economy.

Key Takeaways & Calls to Action

Albertan and Canadian startups should take advantage of the lower costs available to them in order to compete with American players south of the border.
The province’s start-ups, larger businesses, government and university research centers must all collaborate to “quadruple down” to accelerate its tech sector’s growth and build on the early success it has achieved in fields such as AI.
Alberta’s wealth of health data, its health sciences talent pool, its growing expertise in AI as well as the convergence and collaboration of its sectors make it competitive in the health technology sector.
Alberta’s diversification efforts must leverage the province’s important engineering talent pool and the strong experience of it oil and gas workforce that is used to working as part of diverse teams to make complex projects a reality.